Free Hollywood Outlaw: A Hollywood Alphabet SeriesThriller (A Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller Book 15) by M.Z. Kelly
Authors: M.Z. Kelly
after our interview with Bailey Nolan, still unable to contact either Sly Sylvester or Carlyle Waggoner.
I let Darby take the lead, telling the others what we learned about Bert Prince’s financial dealings and his attorney’s response to what we knew.
“You ask me, the crime went down like this,” Darby said. “Lady Prince knows her husband cheats with everyone around her, including her own sister and her agent. When she learns that Marisha Dole and Bert have been skimming every cent they made from the TV show to keep his leaky financial ship afloat, she snapped. She ended both the nightmare that was her marriage and the financial black hole that was sucking the family fortune dry.”
“What about the sex act?” Edna said. “If it went like you say, she wouldn’t blow him before sending him to eternity.”
Darby shrugged. “Maybe she didn’t. It might be he hooked up with someone else before she blew him away.”
“Anything on DNA yet?”
I answered. “I talked to Brie this afternoon. She’s hoping to have something within the next forty-eight hours.”
Leo and Buck then gave Edna an update on our meeting with Bailey Nolan. “She pretty much confirmed what we knew, that Bert cheated with everyone, including men. She also said he ran everything through his lawyer.”
“Which means the lawyer’s also dirty,” Buck said.
“He wasn’t cooperative,” I told the lieutenant. “He practically kicked us out of his office.”
Selfie spoke up. “Swenson’s got a reputation for representing a lot of powerful people. He was able to get Tyler Jacobs off. He’s that CEO who embezzled millions from investors in his stock fund.”
We all knew about the case. Jacobs walked after ruining the lives of thousands of elderly people, putting him right up there with Bernie Madoff on the sleaze scale.
“It sounds like we’ve got a lot more work to do on this,” Edna said. “Let’s go back to Lady and Marisha, and see what they have to say. In the meantime, I’ll update Dumbo and the rest of the fucking brass.”
We spent the remainder of the afternoon trying to track down Lady and Marisha, without success. I was leaving the station when I glanced into the breakroom and saw my former partner, Charlie Winkler. Charlie was retired, but had come back to work part-time. I’d recently heard a rumor that he and Jessica Barlow, another detective at Hollywood Station, were engaged. Word had it they were planning to get married in the forecourt of the TCL Chinese Theatre. I decided to see if the rumors were true and if my former partner had, indeed, lost his mind.
I got a cup of water from the dispenser and took a seat across from him. When his bloodshot eyes came up to me, I said, “How goes it, partner?”
“It goes.” His gaze drifted down to something he’d been slurping up that looked like lasagna or maybe the remnants of a cheesy enchilada, I wasn’t sure which.
“I hear congratulations are in order.”
His gloomy eyes found me again. “For what?”
“You and Jessica. I heard you’re getting married.”
“Oh, that.” He blew out a breath and dragged a hand through his thinning, graying hair. “Guess so.”
Even though he’d confirmed it, I found it difficult to believe he was actually marrying Jessica Barlow. Jessica and I had gone to high school together before she’d decided to ruin my life and also become a cop. She was difficult, arrogant, and petty—and those were her good qualities. To make matters worse, she and Charlie had nearly come to blows when they’d worked together in the past. They’d somehow moved past their differences and become romantically involved, but the idea of them getting married seemed ridiculous.
Charlie just sat there, not saying anything more or looking at me. He looked like a lost child, in need of a friend.
“Tell me what’s going on,” I finally said, lowering my voice out of concern.
“I accepted a proposition, that’s all.”
My brows inched
I let Darby take the lead, telling the others what we learned about Bert Prince’s financial dealings and his attorney’s response to what we knew.
“You ask me, the crime went down like this,” Darby said. “Lady Prince knows her husband cheats with everyone around her, including her own sister and her agent. When she learns that Marisha Dole and Bert have been skimming every cent they made from the TV show to keep his leaky financial ship afloat, she snapped. She ended both the nightmare that was her marriage and the financial black hole that was sucking the family fortune dry.”
“What about the sex act?” Edna said. “If it went like you say, she wouldn’t blow him before sending him to eternity.”
Darby shrugged. “Maybe she didn’t. It might be he hooked up with someone else before she blew him away.”
“Anything on DNA yet?”
I answered. “I talked to Brie this afternoon. She’s hoping to have something within the next forty-eight hours.”
Leo and Buck then gave Edna an update on our meeting with Bailey Nolan. “She pretty much confirmed what we knew, that Bert cheated with everyone, including men. She also said he ran everything through his lawyer.”
“Which means the lawyer’s also dirty,” Buck said.
“He wasn’t cooperative,” I told the lieutenant. “He practically kicked us out of his office.”
Selfie spoke up. “Swenson’s got a reputation for representing a lot of powerful people. He was able to get Tyler Jacobs off. He’s that CEO who embezzled millions from investors in his stock fund.”
We all knew about the case. Jacobs walked after ruining the lives of thousands of elderly people, putting him right up there with Bernie Madoff on the sleaze scale.
“It sounds like we’ve got a lot more work to do on this,” Edna said. “Let’s go back to Lady and Marisha, and see what they have to say. In the meantime, I’ll update Dumbo and the rest of the fucking brass.”
We spent the remainder of the afternoon trying to track down Lady and Marisha, without success. I was leaving the station when I glanced into the breakroom and saw my former partner, Charlie Winkler. Charlie was retired, but had come back to work part-time. I’d recently heard a rumor that he and Jessica Barlow, another detective at Hollywood Station, were engaged. Word had it they were planning to get married in the forecourt of the TCL Chinese Theatre. I decided to see if the rumors were true and if my former partner had, indeed, lost his mind.
I got a cup of water from the dispenser and took a seat across from him. When his bloodshot eyes came up to me, I said, “How goes it, partner?”
“It goes.” His gaze drifted down to something he’d been slurping up that looked like lasagna or maybe the remnants of a cheesy enchilada, I wasn’t sure which.
“I hear congratulations are in order.”
His gloomy eyes found me again. “For what?”
“You and Jessica. I heard you’re getting married.”
“Oh, that.” He blew out a breath and dragged a hand through his thinning, graying hair. “Guess so.”
Even though he’d confirmed it, I found it difficult to believe he was actually marrying Jessica Barlow. Jessica and I had gone to high school together before she’d decided to ruin my life and also become a cop. She was difficult, arrogant, and petty—and those were her good qualities. To make matters worse, she and Charlie had nearly come to blows when they’d worked together in the past. They’d somehow moved past their differences and become romantically involved, but the idea of them getting married seemed ridiculous.
Charlie just sat there, not saying anything more or looking at me. He looked like a lost child, in need of a friend.
“Tell me what’s going on,” I finally said, lowering my voice out of concern.
“I accepted a proposition, that’s all.”
My brows inched